Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our friends and family! There is so much for our family to be thankful for this year... so very much! Unfortunately, we will not be with all of our family this year, as that would be near impossible, but we wish we could be and are thankful for each and every person.

Personally, I am thankful number one, for my salvation. There have been so many avenues of my life that have been difficult to navigate - and sometimes I found that I couldn't... I just had to drop anchor and sit. Where would I be without the anchor of my salvation? What rock would I cling to when the times got tough? It's never easy to sit and weather the storm, even with Christ as your anchor, but trusting in him makes it bearable. Trusting in Him helps you come out on the other side transformed.

I am thankful for my family. I'm thankful that I have a great husband and healthy children. I'm thankful for the country I live in, for the warmth of my home and for the wonderful food that will be on our table tonight and every night. I'm very thankful for my job, even though it can sometimes be one of the storms that I am weathering. I'm thankful for my friends - the ones who are always there for me to depend on, who will weather the storms with me, or stand in the sunshine and celebrate wonders with me. They know who they are and I love them... they are always there. The ones who you don't see or talk to for months, but when you see them, it is like no time passed.

I'm thankful for our chance to have another daughter. We look forward to meeting her and bringing her home!

Speaking of our daughter.... we made it to Immigration yesterday. Tim and I headed out bright and early and made it to Charleston by 10:00 am. That was great, except our appointment was not until 11:00. So Tim asked "What do you want to do for an hour?". Well, I really wanted to just get my fingerprints done and get back home. It would be nice to be home earlier and get a jump start on all the things that needed to be done. So, I suggested just going in, telling them that we were early, but could we get in line anyway. It couldn't hurt, right? I mean the only thing that could happen is they would say no, and we'd wait an hour.

So, we went into the office. We explained to security that we were early, they asked for our fingerprint appointment paperwork, and they checked our identification and let us in. We went back to the fingerprint area, and we were the ONLY ONES THERE. We were in and out in 20 minutes and were on our way home before our regularly scheduled appointment time. I've said it before, but SC USCIS is the best! Now, I'm just praying for a quick turn around time for our I171-H. In the past that has been turned around quickly for us as well!

So, after our fingerprint appt, we ate a late lunch with the kids and then ran a few errands. We got Anna a few new church dresses and a pair of new shoes to wear with them. She got her first real pair of "heels". You know, the little shoes with the wide heel and about 1/4 inch heel. It's just another sign that my baby is growing up! After a late lunch, no one was really hungry for dinner, so we did some stuff around the house and decided to turn in early with a movie and popcorn.

We watched "My Sister's Keeper". If you like to cry, that is the movie to watch. I cried a good bit of the movie. Cameron and Tim were apparently iin a "no crying contest" becuase Cameron kept asking "Tim, are you crying yet?" Every time Cameron asked me, I sniffed and said "no". Ummmhhh, he knew otherwise! It was a good movie, but a heartbreaker!

I made a chocolate pie last night for the kids and this morning I'm up to bake a fresh, home made apple pie. Denis loves it, so I thought I would make it for him. Mom's bringing the pumpkin pie. I'm looking forward to a nice turkey dinner with my family today. I hope everyone else has a wonderful thanksgiving and has as much to be thankful for as I do.

In Christ,
Charity